Kentfield taqueria to close after 35 years to make room for COM project

For more than 30 years, Greenbrae native Susan Howard has ordered one of two burritos at Taqueria Mexican Grill de Marin in Kentfield — "Number 24," bean and cheese and "Number 20," carne asada.

Little has changed about the place, from the 25-cent arcade games from a generation past to the bathroom that is worn with age.

"They never remodeled the bathroom, I can tell you that, so I don't go in it," Howard said affectionately last week as she ate with her two sons.

The restaurant opened in 1977 at the corner of College Avenue and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. But Dec. 29 is scheduled to be its last day. The restaurant will make way for a new $33 million academic building at College of Marin.

"It's really sad because almost everything that's original from growing up is gone and this is one of the last childhood memories," said Howard, who now lives in Tiburon.

Opened at the site of a former gas station on college-owned property, the restaurant is believed to be one of the county's oldest taquerias. Its demise has been expected for several years, since the college outlined plans to spend its $249.5 million modernization bond, Measure C.

The bond program includes a 43,000-square-foot academic center at the site of the taqueria on the edge of campus. The project will require demolition of several college buildings, in addition to the taqueria.

"It's for a good reason," said taqueria co-owner Antonio Cruz, a Novato father of two originally from El Salvador.

Cruz, 49, said he has not yet decided whether he will open a restaurant in another location. But after 35 years, the taqueria where he has spent much of his adult life has an atmosphere that can only be created with time.

"We see children," Cruz said. "All of a sudden they are grown up. They come back. It is great to see them."

Cruz plans to make a sign announcing the imminent closure, but word has already spread among many customers.

On Friday, 30-year-old Jamie Carney said she ate at the taqueria as a child growing up in Fairfax, and she recently re-discovered it after moving to Kentfield.

"I remember the video games, and I don't think much has changed since then," she said. "Hopefully they will reopen somewhere else."

Pearl Monemzadeh, a recruiter who has worked in the college's human resources department for 23 years, said the taqueria has become a favorite lunch stop.

"The college in general will really miss it," she said. "It's close, it's relatively inexpensive and it's fast and the people are always very nice."

Beginning in January, the college will inspect the taqueria building and test the soil in preparation for demolition in the summer, said Al Harrison, the college's vice president of operations.

The college hopes to start construction soon after the demolition.

"They have been a long tenant of ours; a long tenant of the college, there is no question there," Harrison said of the taqueria. "We have worked mutually through this process to try to let them stay there as long as we possibly could."

As the restaurant enters its final weeks Cruz said he has a message for his customers: "Thank you for everything," he said. "It was a pleasure. For people so beautiful, it was a pleasure to serve you, to serve the community."